>2. Realizing that a mechanism-free player has considerably more shock
>resistance, the lack of memory is a definite downside. Carrying most of my
>music collection with me has tremendous advantages. If I do have to go
>mechanism-free, what are the group's suggestions? What is a good and
>reliable unit that has a decent sized memory? And how much is decent sized?
>How many CDs?
>3. I carry the unit in my pocket, so it only gets beat up as much as I do
>:). I don't believe I can isolate it any more than I do, short of a fanny
>pack that has foam inside. But now were are talking BIG PRODUCTION. The
>beauty of the Archos is that I can slip in in my jacket pocket and go.

Woah, slow down a bit. You've (probably) had a once-in-a-lifetime random bad
sector develop on an old hard drive. No need to panic and toss out the unit.
Rather than screwing around with the old drive or (God forbid) try to get by
without RockBox, why not just get a new drive and be done with it. 20 gig
drives are a dime a dozen these days. I'd probably pop for a 40 gigger while
I had the unit apart.

I can tell you that I've put hundreds of miles on my stand-up electric
scooters, almost all with my trusty Recorder in my pocket, with nary a
problem. This scooter arguably produces a rougher ride than any motorcycle,
unless you're on a hard tail or something.

Recently I had our local Hippy (what he calls himself) make me a nice leather
pouch in which to carry my Recorder. It holds the Recorder horizontally which
is much nicer on the legs when bending.

I made a belt from a length of wet suit material and a quick disconnect
plastic buckle. Nice and stretchy. I wear it around my waist when
scootering. When doing actual physical work such as working on a car, I wear
it around my chest with the belt passing on top of my armpits and the Recorder
in the center of my back. That keeps it up and out of the way where it won't
get hit as I move around.